


Who we are in our little place

by toddykun



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Duckling Fenton, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Gen, Injuries from work, Motherhood, little snippet of their lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 00:07:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17334959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toddykun/pseuds/toddykun
Summary: the struggles of a single recently-divorced mother and her little piece of light.





	Who we are in our little place

**Author's Note:**

> [[First posted 12/29/2018 in Tumblr](http://toddy-does.tumblr.com/post/181535743588/who-we-are-in-our-little-place-summary-the)[
> 
> this takes place after m’ma divorced, they moved out and she got her job as an officer.
> 
> bonus scene from [the second chapter of Opportunities we had lost](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16039208/chapters/40601891)

“¡Mami!”

Gloria laughed, her son launching himself into her arms at the moment he saw it was her at the door, jumping high enough to wind his little arms around her neck. She tried to not grimace too much into the hug when her son pressed a little too hard into her right shoulder, she wanted to keep hugging him and not let go never for the rest of her life. She separated him just a little, enough to see his excited face. His smile made her heart soft and she felt secure and safe, a feeling she thought she had lost with the pain in her shoulder.

“I’m happy to see you too, pollito. But be careful, ok? I’m tired, bebé.”

Gloria’s heart deflated a little when she saw the change from excited to sheepish in Fenton’s face. “Sorry, mami. ¿Bendición?”

Gloria gave him a reassuring smile and kissed his little forehead, to remind him that he hadn’t do something wrong. “Dios te bendiga, mi vida,” she murmured, loving voice pouring out of her only for her son. Fenton beamed, giggling, and kissed her back into her cheek.

At the door, the one Fenton had opened so eagerly, was an old greyish-red guacamaya, her chubby and hunched frame familiar to Gloria now after some time knowing her. The old lady smiled like she always seemed to do, she seemed charmed by the unfolding scene in front of her. “See, Fenton? Told you your mamá would be here soon enough.”

“¡Si! You were right, abuela Claudia!” Fenton beamed, turning around to see the other woman without leaving his mother embrace. Gloria smiled at her before getting up, letting go of the hug to ruffle her son’s feathers.

Claudia returned her smiled and said to her like a secret. “He was heavy asleep on the sofa but when he heard the knock, he was almost flying to the door. I swear I don’t know from where he gets that energy.”

Gloria snorted immediately, amused by her son’s behavior. “Oh, yeah?” Fenton blushed and looked embarrassed, that just made Gloria even happier. She ruffled his feathers a little more. “Well, go collect your things, so you can go home to sleep in our bed, ¿si, pollito?”

Fenton jumped to the door. “¡Si, mami!” And ran into the apartment, leaving the two women outside.

The two women followed him with their eyes until he was out of their sight, disappearing into the living room. The old guacamaya stopped smiling at that moment and turned around to see her, worried expression set on her face. She had said nothing yet but Gloria was already feeling guilty.

“Gloria,  _it’s 1 a.m on a Saturday._ You’re never late. Do you know how worried that boy was? How worried I was? What happened? Why are you six hours late, mija?”

Gloria didn’t know how to say the whole truth, so she went with half of it. “I’m really sorry, Claudia. There was a lot of paperwork and I-.”

The old lady shouted, interrupting her with a frown. “I may be old and my sighting may be bad, mija, but I saw how you frowned when Fenton touched your shoulder. You looked in a lot of pain, you were lucky that nene wasn’t looking at your face.” Gloria looked down, embarrassed to be caught in the lie. Claudia sighed. “Well? That seems like a nasty injury, mind telling me how it got there, mija?”

Gloria grimaced, instinctively touching with caution her injured shoulder, recounting the events of the afternoon in her head.

It had been a stress-free day at the station, pure paperwork, a lot of it actually, but she was content with it. Until, of course, her boss asked her to accompany two of her superiors to some exclusive casino for really rich people. They had been a lot of suspicions of a specific client cheating that had arrived some days ago to the casino, they won too many times and the owner of the place was tired of it and wanted a stop to it, it was because he was making less money of course, not because he was worried about moral matters. Gloria accepted the job, since her boss wanted her specifically and because accepting could lead to a promotion. More experience on the field meant promotions and a bigger wage usually. Her partner winked at her and one of her friends in the station had wished her good luck.

When they arrived and did the interviews, she had expected resistance from some animals, she had expected commotion from the clients, maybe a fist fight with a difficult suspect. What she hadn’t expected was ending in an exchange of shots with the principal suspect. She hadn’t expected that the “lucky” client at the casino was a woman with sharp thinking and quick reflexes either.

She just wasn’t expecting to run again into…Goldie. Not after what happened some months ago.

She hadn’t expected her to fire either when the simple questions ended in those unfortunate circumstances. Her hand pressed her shoulder a little at the memory of the blonde duck firing the gun at her. Pain flared and her hand went down at her side.

It was the first time she had been shot. Not the first time confronting the possibility though. She had been trained to expect it at some point in her job, she had been trained to even avoid it when possible but for it to actually happen was a completely different matter.

First of all, it hurt like hell.

Second of all, the grip of death was pretty hard to forget, more than people realized.

Third of all, it was great to know that the station was the one that was going to pay for that medic bill and for the emergency surgery and not her. She almost finally died just thinking about the horrible bill she was going to face later.

It was almost funny how in the way to the hospital, even when she should have been worrying about how her shoulder was losing so much blood and how much it hurt, she just couldn’t stop thinking about her son. Too worried about him to really acknowledge when she was moved to finally do an emergency surgery or when the nurse gave her anesthesia and told her that everything was going to be okay. Total blackout, her son waiting for her the last thought on her mind. Next thing she knew, she was patched up and the doctor was telling her she needed to stop using her right arm for some months, she needed to check with him regularly too, and when that finished, she could start therapy for her arm. Oh, and she needed to go tomorrow with a therapist for the shooting, too.

She really, really didn’t want to worry Claudia nor her son with all that. “Hard day at work, Claudia. Please just let it be.”

The old red guacamaya sighed, looking at her with uneasiness. “Gloria,  _hija,_ please.”

Gloria looked at the side, indecisive. In the end, she sighed in defeat and told a simple truth. “I received a shot in the shoulder. Almost clean but it grazed the bone and it chipped it a little. Needed an emergency surgery. That’s why it took so long to come home.”

Gloria had not seen the old red guacamaya while saying that, so she came to halt when she saw the old guacamaya crying in front of her, she went to clean the tears off rapidly but Gloria had already seen it and the pang of guilt was already destroying her. “Oh, mi niña, you should be in the hospital, not here. I could take care of Fenton for the weekend and-.”

“No, you already do enough for me, Claudia. Especially with the other kids and… I could not ask you for more.” She said with resolution.

“At least you should let me go to your apartment to help. I could take care of the cooking and the cleaning until you can use your arm.”

Gloria denied again, this time with a soft smile. “Don’t worry.” She replied, her other arm moving freely to show her point, “my other arm is just fine. It can do double work, this only means I’m going to have extra strength in this one.”

Claudia laughed at the absurdity of Gloria’s statement. She smiled, glad to relax the old lady a little. “Ayayay, you are just too stubborn for your own good, mija.”

Gloria laughed. She went to say something but got delayed, seeing a sleepy and yawning Fenton walking to her, he was smiling but his eyes were half-lidded and he looked so tired. Fenton raised his little arms to her, an obvious request to be picked up, Gloria rolled her eyes and mumbled a “come here, baby” in spanish, lifting him up with her good arm. He put his head to her shoulder immediately and closed his eyes. Gloria kissed his cheek and caressed his head with her other hand. She looked at the old guacamaya again.

“Thanks, Claudia. I don’t know what I would do without you. Sorry if he caused any trouble. And for worrying you.”

The old red guacamaya scoffed, tiredly. “You are a strong Cuban woman, mija, like me. I know you will figure it out.” She winked at her. “And don’t worry,  _él es un amor_. Said he was a good kid because otherwise, mamá would be sad. I don’t think that kid is capable of misbehaving now.”

Gloria smirked, proud of her Fenton, and insisted to Claudia. “Whatever favor you want, just tell me, okay?”

Claudia posed as she may be thinking “I do have one,” she said, smiling to her. Gloria made sure to pay attention. “I’m really hoping you buy that house and you get out of this barrio, mija. You two deserved it. Bet your family would be so proud of you.”

Gloria thought about them for a second and a melancholic smile broke through her beak. “That’s what I’m hoping for. But I mean a real favor, Claudia.”

“Making this old bird happy would be the greatest favor, Gloria. I want you two happy.”

“Fine, fine. Huh, and you say I’m stubborn.” Claudia just laughed. Gloria went to move Fenton a little, trying to wake him up. “Hey, cielo. We’re going. What do we say to Doña Claudia, pollito?”

Fenton opened his eyes, really tired but he smiled full force even with the little energy he had left, he turned around to see the old guacamaya and mumbled with affection. “Gracias, abuela Claudia. Chao. Bendición.”

The old guacamaya laughed heartedly. Her old eyes twinkled with incredible fondness and she kissed Fenton like he was really her own grandchild. “De nada, mi cielo. Dios te bendiga. Have a good night, you two.”

**Author's Note:**

> and that’s all, i was actually discarding this of the actual fic but ilike it so much i just couldn't leave it without use at all asdfg (thats whhy she talking about goldie, dude, its from the follow up of my reincarnation au lmao) also wink wink at those who got the reference with Doña Claudia.
> 
> hope you enjoyed it!!!!! leave a comment or kudo if you do, please, it would be extremely appreciated <3<3<3
> 
> come bother me if u want to:  
> [my writing and art tumblr](http://toddy-does.tumblr.com/)  
> [my personal tumblr](http://toddy-kun.tumblr.com/)  
> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/toddywithcereal)


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